1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of nail protection devices, particularly with regards to protecting fingernails and toenails from discoloration due to exposure to ultraviolet light, spray-on tans, and other discoloring conditions.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to enhance attractiveness, fingernail and toenail treatments, such as manicures, are common. Here, in what is often a fairly expensive beauty salon process, fingernails are cleaned, precisely cut, polished, and then often painted and/or covered with a colored or clear finish.
Other treatments are also done in order to enhance attractiveness. For example, individuals may also desire to acquire skin tans, often through exposure to ultraviolet light in the form of exposure to the sun, or to artificial ultraviolet light from tanning booths and the like. Alternatively, individuals may instead opt for spray on tans as well.
Unfortunately, as has been noted by other workers, the processes that generate skin tans often result in an unwanted discoloration of manicured nails. For example, ultraviolet light can react adversely with various paints and enamels, resulting in discoloration. Alternatively spray-on tans can also build up on the surface of the nails, again resulting in discoloration.
As a result, previous workers have proposed various methods to protect the nails from discoloration. For example, Meinschwenk, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,662,807 taught the use of releasably attachable nail jackets that would cover the user's nails. Similarly Allen and Scheurn, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,990,985 taught a relatively complex cover for fingernails that would cover the distal end of the user's finger and would have a specific width to height ratio of about 2:1 to 5:1. '895 teaches that these covers can last for hundreds or thousands of uses.
This later device, subsequently marketed as “Nail savers”, has been commercially offered for sale, and is presently available at list price of $15.80 per set of 11 (i.e. enough to protect the nails on two hands, with one extra unit in case of loss or damage).
Although such high-cost reusable devices may be adequate for home users, who may contemplate reusing the nail savers over and over again for up to hundreds of times, this device may be less acceptable for commercial beauty salons, tanning salons, and the like, which have to deal with a high volume of customers. These customers may object to the use of previously used devices, and or may tend to “walk off” or accidently damage or lose the proprietor's device, resulting in economic loss to the proprietor. Thus further advances in the art would be desirable.